HERINCX, WILLIAM

Bishop and moral theologian; b. Helmond, Northern Brabant, 1621; d. Ypres, Aug. 17, 1678. Herincx received his preliminary education at 's Hertogenbosch and entered the University of Louvain, where he acquired a doctorate in classical studies. He then entered the Order of Friars Minor Recollect and in 1653 was named letter of theology at Louvain. He was so successful in presenting his matter to students that his superiors ordered him to compose a manual of moral theology for the use of the young friars of his province. The result was Summa theologiae scholastica et moralis in quatuor partes distributa (Antwerp 1660–63). By this time Herincx was minister provincial; he was twice elected to this office, and he also served as general definitor of the order and commissary general for northern Europe.

Herincx's Summa is remarkable for the clarity and precision with which the doctrine is presented. The section "De conscientia," is worthy of special note. He felt that the study of theology should contribute to the personal sanctification of students and stated in his preface that "it behooves us to make use of the truth for our own sanctification … and above all for kindling and nourishing in ourselves and others the love of God." It was necessary for Herincx to make some modifications in his text after the decrees of Alexander VII in 1665 and 1666, and aided by a learned confrere, W. Van Goorlaeken, he brought out a revised edition. Like most Franciscan theologians of his day, he was officially a Scotist, but a moderate one who respected and used the teachings of SS. bonaventure and thomas aquinas in his own writings.

Herincx was a probabilist; he held that the attack upon probabilism in the 17th century was Jansenist in origin and that the tendency to rigorism was unknown among the theologians of the Middle Ages.

Herincx was named bishop of Ypres and consecrated on Oct. 24, 1677, in the Franciscan church at Brussels. He had barely taken up residence in his diocese and started to visit the places under his care when he died.

Bibliography: h. hurter, Nomenclator literarius theologiae catholicae, 5 v. in 6 (3d ed. Innsbruck 1903–13) 4:48–49.

[a. j. clark]